Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), Tuesday 27 June 1950, page 2


SKYMASTERS HAD A CLEAN SHEET

MELBOURNE, Tues: Today's was the first Skymaster crash in Australia's air transport history, and its death roll of 28 makes it our worst civil airline disaster. This does not take into account the crash of an unscheduled Lockheed Hudson airliner at Lae, New Guinea, in

1948, in which 33 were killed, nearly all natives. The crash will seriously affect the air safety figures for this year, which so far have been without serious accident or fatality in regard to public transport air operations. And last year's figures were statistically bad also — the worst in Australia's history — though the number of accidents was few. The crashes of last year were those of a Queensland Airlines Lodestar at Coolangatta in which 18 passengers and three crew members were killed on March 10; and that of a MacRobertson Miller DC3 at Guildford on July 2, when - 14 passengers and three crew members were killed. The Amana crash is Australian National Airways 7th serious accident and 5th fatality since the beginning of 1945. In these, a total of 77 people have been killed.